ThinkGen planning to go public

BANGALORE: Bangalore-based ThinkGen Ltd., the IT solutions company focusing on the global pharmaceutical industry, is planning to go public in the next three months. The company is in the process of finalizing its issue strategy as either a book building or retail investors' issue.

The e-commerce company catering to the healthcare industry with a current equity base of Rs 5 crore, has opted for a public issue to get a valuation of the company, said ThinkGen managing director Rama Subramaniam. Speaking to CIOL Bureau, he said that an internationally reputed auditor had valued its shares at Rs 300, but the merchant bankers were not comfortable with that. "At the moment, we don't know whose recommendations we should take - merchant banker's or that of the auditor...there are gross valuations, nobody seems to know how to value an e-commerce company," he added.

ThinkGen plans to add the money that it raises from the public issue to its reserves and also to part finance its infrastructure to support the back-end processes for all the e-commerce portals. The company is also finalizing its post-equity structure. The maiden issue would be at a premium, said Mr Subramaniam, refusing to give details.

Commenting on the equity dilution of the company promoters, Mr Subramaniam added, "We are looking for a very low dilution of equity in the first phase, since the intention is to get a valuation for the company. It is our intention not to dilute more than 10-15 per cent of the equity in the first round. ThinkGen is working on a hub-and-spoke model where Thinkgen would be the hub and the spoke would be each of our ten e-commerce initiatives targeted at the healthcare sector which would finally find its listing abroad."